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March 31

"Nominated for X Grammy Awards"

We often see someone or something being marketed as having been "nominated for 15 Grammy Awards", or Academy Awards, or whatever. It's obviously seen as a positive. But what does it take to be nominated? Obviously they didn't win, or that would be the marketing line. Who can nominate? Who vets nominations? Does it really mean all that much to be nominated and not win? HiLo48 (talk) 03:43, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Have you read Grammy_Award#Nomination_process? Rojomoke (talk) 04:07, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Or Academy Award#Nomination. At least for the Academy Awards, nominees are nominated by members of the Academy, so a nomination at least indicates that someone who matters has taken notice of one's proficiency in some part or another of the filmmaking process. I'm sure someone has also tabulated the data to determine how many Academy Award winners had been nominees in years when they did not win. I'd be willing to bet that being nominated without a win significantly increases one's chances of being nominated and winning at a later date. Evanh2008 ^{(talk|contribs)} 04:56, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Machine Man (old movie)

reposted from Talk:Machine Man
The movie that im looking for is... this man makes a machine (not the fly) older. When he steps into it and turns it on it does something to him. but not right away as hes walking down the halway light starts comming out of his body and starts to deevolve. i cant remember the name of it. can someone help the movie is from the 1975 to 1985 i think... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bhoff344 (talk • contribs) 06:29, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

I haven't seen the movie and don't know if it has the light effect, but William Hurt's character de-evolves in Altered States (1980). TVTropes has "Devolution Device", but only lists Super Mario Bros. and We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story. Clarityfiend (talk) 08:16, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

no thats not it... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bhoff344 (talk • contribs) 16:10, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Maybe not a movie. Clarity's TVTrope link led me to Ghost Light (Doctor Who), and the much newer 4-episode finale of 3rd Rock from the Sun. Possibilities? Astronaut (talk) 19:39, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

Jennifer Lawrence

we don't speculate on people's medical conditions, see WP:BLP
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Just curious, does she suffer from mild Strabismus? ☯ Bonkers The Clown \(^_^)/ Nonsensical Babble ☯ 10:13, 31 March 2013 (UTC) Feel free to use google, we cannot offer our personal opinions on a living person. μηδείς (talk) 16:12, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Previous "Bridges of Madison County" type movie (B type)

My friend swears she saw a movie just like "Bridges" years ago, even down to the hand being on the truck door handle. Do you know of it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.247.128.7 (talk) 15:13, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Define "years ago". Bridges of Madison County, itself, was "years ago". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:44, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

New world record shortest song is ``Z.M.M.`` by Zeeuwse Meisjes Molestors

``You Suffer`` by Napalm Death is still having the world record of shortest song ever? Well, I found out that I have recorded a shorter song, 2 years ago, with my project Zeeuwse Meisjes Molestors. My song ``Z.M.M.`` is shorter, maybe not even a second long. You can listen and compare it with the ``You Suffer`` song by Napalm Death, which is still having the Guinness book of world records, according to Wikipedia. My song can be heard here: https://soundcloud.com/speed-slaughter/17-z-m-m

The song Z.M.M. is on the Zeeuwse Meisjes Molestors debut album ``Satan is a Z.M.M. Worshipper`` from 2010 and is released through my own recordlabel SpeedSlaughter http://www.facebook.com/pages/Speed-Slaughter/332230710221987 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.210.148.142 (talk) 20:26, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Are you telling us this because you want this information to be included in Wikipedia? Because it won't be, until a reliable independent third party source such as a newspaper or magazine, or even the Guinness Book of Records itself, refers to your song as the shortest. --Viennese Waltz 20:49, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Just to clarify, You Suffer is the shortest song in the world according to Guinness World Records (it's not been called the "Guinness Book of Records" since 2000, incidentally). When they (and only they) award the title to a shorter song, we can then update the appropriate articles. Tevildo (talk) 21:00, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

I knew about the name change but I still refer to it by the old name because I don't see the point in changing it. --Viennese Waltz 22:18, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Bill Jones in the 2013 BBC drama 'the village'

I know that bill jones is a new actor but i cant find out anything about him, how old is he? Etc. Please could you consider doing a page about him? Thank you54.228.21.231 (talk) 21:17, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

He's 12.[1][2] But it's too soon to have an article about him: his one credit just isn't enough to satisfy WP:NACTOR. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:08, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

April 1

can anyone name any romantic-comedies where the guy is in his 20's and the chick in her 30's?

can anyone name any romantic-comedies where the guy is in his 20's and the chick in her 30's? I know Water for Elephants is one of them but I don't know if the characters were portrayed by their "actual" ages or how old they were in the book. Venustar84 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 00:54, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

marty robbins gunfighter ballards and trail songs

on your pages it says that you can get these on a cd so was there every a cd published with these songs on it,as i am looking to see if i can get it on a cd and where can i get a copy of it, am very intereted thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.231.49.252 (talk) 07:57, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

The album has its own article at Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs. That page says it was reissued in 1999 on Legacy Records. It's available on Amazon and other outlets. Rojomoke (talk) 08:28, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

Rojomoke I fixed your link. --TammyMoet (talk) 09:25, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

Skinning a cat

What is some good cat-skinning music? --Carnildo (talk) 09:50, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

It would depend on what genre of music you prefer. Not sure what is popular in your area but around here, Kitikmeot Region, the most popular music is country and people will play that to any activity, including skinning. Probably could make yourself some nice mitts out of cat skin. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 14:04, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

Katzenjammer (band)? The name literally translates as "lament of a cat." 38.111.64.107 (talk) 14:36, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

A duet for the two nonchalant cats looking on. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 21:07, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

"Throw Your Cat Away" by Jan Hobson and Her Bad Review. Deor (talk) 09:40, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

"Nanzen Kills a Cat" by The Van Pelt? Recury (talk) 20:29, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

And the film is?? (Another cry for help)

Another appeal to the experts . . .

A famous actor - typical hard man type. He is an American soldier/officer (marine I think). I can't recall the plot but in one scene he is in a bar with a load of bikers one of whom decides to give him trouble. He goes into his hard man routine and tells the biker that he is only going to use his thumb - "only my left thumb because my right thumb is too powerful for you". He then proceeds to take the guy apart with only thumb stabs.

Please can you tell me what film it was? Thanks. (This is Gurumaister but I can't find the tilde on this keyboard). — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gurumaister (talk • contribs) 15:38, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

The Presidio (film)? (and I only used my thumb to type it). --Michig (talk) 16:49, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

You guys (and girls) never let me down. Thank you! (Gurumaister without a tilde on his keyboard) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gurumaister (talk • contribs) 17:30, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

Incidentally, what sort of keyboard do you have? If it's a UK keyboard, the tilde is next to the Enter key - if it's an American keyboard, it's at the very top left (above the Tab key). On a French keyboard, it's AltGr-2; on a German keyboard, it's AltGr-+ (next to the Enter key). See Keyboard layout. Tevildo (talk) 18:37, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

It is a UK keyboard but the tilde (when I eventually found it) is actually UNDER the enter key. Thanks again for your help. Gurumaister (talk) 15:42, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

I'll mark this resolved for you. StuRat (talk) 17:50, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

Did you only use your thumb? Dismas|^(talk) 07:23, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

Resolved

How is this piano notation played and written?

[3] (small PNG file, give it a second to load) Is this a form of arpeggio? Also, if anyone knows Finale, how would this be created? I'm struggling to figure this one out.Reflectionsinglass (talk) 21:16, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

I've read that this is indeed an alternative arpeggio notation, but I don't think I've ever seen it in the wild. This thread in the Sibelius forums explains a couple of other possible uses. I don't know about Finale but I do know that Lilypond supports this directly (which probably is not helpful to you; sorry!). Regards, Orange Suede Sofa (talk) 22:37, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

Great, that's great that it's an arpeggio; wasn't sure. Seems strange for two notes only. I, in fact, did end up using the slur tool, which I struggled with until I assigned either end of the slur to notes that were farther apart (Finale otherwise tries to link the two notes in the same chord—which would be great if it didn't end up make the slur "vanish" into a single point). But by separating the start and end points, then moving the slur far away from any chords and reshaping it, then moving it back into position, I was able to create the look I was going for. (Creating a shape from brackets, as suggested elsewhere, didn't work.)Reflectionsinglass (talk) 00:42, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

April 2

Tamil Movie distribution

Can anyone say how a tamil movie will be distributed usually after previewed at south film chamber? Pls include Out-rated distribution procedures too. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Coolvins86 (talk • contribs) 05:41, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

personal crusade

Recently, I watched two videos on YouTube. They featured Glover Teixeira. The videos were uploaded by Mayors Against Illegal Guns. In them, Teixera said his niece, who was a first-grader at Sandy Hook Elementary School, survived the horrific massacre there. Teixeira also appealed to fans and viewers to demand action to end gun violence. This information should be included in the article about him.142.255.103.121 (talk) 07:08, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for the information. A couple of points on the matter you raise. Firstly, the proper place to raise it is at Talk:Glover Teixeira, which is where improvements to articles are discussed. Secondly, you can always edit the article yourself rather than ask other people to do it for you. However, the information cannot be added to the article unless it has already received coverage in reliable independent sources such as newspapers. --Viennese Waltz 07:23, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

Actually, I was hoping someone with a little more experience, or perhaps a fan, would do the honors. I've provided some helpful information.142.255.103.121 (talk) 00:18, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

Did the band air-supply play at camp Casey Korea in 1991

I would like to know why there is not anything about them Over at that camp???? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.60.245.36 (talk) 07:35, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

Maybe they did. Like you, I can't find anything about it on the internet. Your best bet would be to find an internet forum dedicated to that band and ask a question there. --Viennese Waltz 07:43, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

You might try Yahoo Groups / Air Supply or Air Supply Music on Facebook. Alansplodge (talk) 20:58, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

Quartet Movie

Do you know who the singers are that sing the quartet from Rigoletto in the movie ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 105.225.186.49 (talk) 11:02, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

I assume you're talking about Quartet (2012 film), but it's still a bit hard to understand your question without having seen the film. There is a full cast list at [4] but I don't know if that lists the singers you are looking for. --Viennese Waltz 11:10, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

V (2009 TV Series)

I don't understand why the V felt the need to come to earth claiming to need only "water and a mineral abundant on earth". In her interview, Anna said her home planet had vast oceans. However, in the second season she is releasing phosphorus into the earth's atmosphere to make humans susceptible to breeding with the visitors. She also succeeds in giving humanity her "bliss". I don't understand why they need to breed with humans, and what role earth played in their master plan. Did they just want to eliminate humanity, manipulate it or assume control of the earth? --Andrew 15:01, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

It's best not to think too hard about this kind of thing. There is no rational reason for anyone to invade the Earth, so SF authors have to invent rather silly reasons. They want to eat us, or have sex with us, or drink our oceans, or plunder the Earth's unique resources of ... er ... manganese or something. V makes the mistake of trying to explain the aliens' motivation, but not trying very hard (the 1980s V aliens just wanted water, and to eat hamsters, which is just idiotic). -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 15:45, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

Long pig is a delicacy, and considering all the habitable planets in our near vicinity are already depleted and overcrowded, why wouldn't aliens want to gentrify the Earth? μηδείς (talk) 18:38, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

The astonishing feat of moving large numbers of people and their stuff for trillions of miles through space requires a civilisation with such technological wizardry that they've completely perfected the art of living and prospering efficiently and effectively in space. Once someone can manage that, planets are a disadvantage - it's like you or I fighting with monkeys about which tree branches we'd like to live on; so that's planetary lebensraum out. Niven and Pournelle's Footfall treats this very cleverly - their aliens have a combination generation ship and sleeper ship: there's conflict between the sleeper faction, who are gung-ho for invading Earth (because that's all they know), whereas the generation faction have lived for millennia in space and think planets are smelly dangerous unnecessary places that give them major agoraphobia. The "they're here for our water" thing is silly too - water ice, and its ingredients, is common as muck - there's more than twice as much water on Europa alone than on Earth (see Ocean), water that's likely fresh and free of terrestrial micro-organisms. Battlefield LA lamely tries to dodge this, claiming the aliens only want liquid water for some reason (they can find the energy to fly across the galaxy, but not to melt some ice). Aliens wanting to mate with us makes as much sense as our wanting to mate with grass, and their wanting to eat us is almost as odd. In the unlikely case that they're biologically similar enough to us for us to be edible, surely the creeping microfauna with which we're dripping will eat them. And why specifically would they happen to want to eat only us, not lichen or earthworms or hospital waste? Did they really travel all the way from Aldebaran for fine dining? Really the only "invasion from space" scenario that makes any sense is an Andromeda Strain panspermia type thing - but there's only so many films you can make about New York being devastated by a virulent strain of extraterrestrial athlete's foot. Beyond that you're into fantasy land indeed, where aliens are ideas or holograms or ghosts, and any darn thing is possible. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 21:23, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

You might as well argue there is no such thing as a coconut, Finlay, because the chance of one landing on a tropical-island beach is so small. μηδείς (talk) 03:32, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

Obviously they're gourmets or gourmands with plenty of resources to squander on the next big fad, attracted to Earth by some presentation on the alien equivalent of Food Network. Think hamster tartare rather than bird's nest soup. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:28, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

They hate us for our freedom, obviously. Gzuckier (talk) 03:58, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

One of the premises of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was that the earth was in the way of an intergalactic conveyance of some kind, so it had to be "bulldozed". That was partly a satire on how we bulldoze things on earth for similar reasons, but could also be a satire of how writers invent reasons for the earth to be imperiled. The OP asks "why the V felt the need to come to earth", when the answer is obvious: If they didn't, the story's creator would have had to invent a different story. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:04, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

I can imagine the V thinking there might well be more water on Europa, but it is buried under hundreds of km of ice, while Earth's water is just lying around on the surface and is therefore much easier to suck up (into what?) - it's not like the humans are using much of it. As for mating with the humans, how else are you going to breed a hundred-million strong army without having your queen laying eggs 24/7 for the next decade, or dragging more bitchy queens halfway across the galaxy? Of course, they could just be going for the "nice planet, we'll take it" kinda thing - why? because they can. Astronaut (talk) 19:14, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

I have not seen the show, but if you simply wanted water, Saturn would probably be the place to go. The larger rings are mostly ice. Half an ocean's worth of water just sitting there for the taking. Since the rings are basically "already in space", they would be a lot cheaper to harvest than water that's on a planet. Purer too.

Kind of be a boring TV show if it was just about astronomers looking through telescopes and shaking their fists at the sky as aliens steal Saturn's rings. APL (talk) 23:21, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

For which see Greg Bear's The Forge of God. μηδείς (talk) 00:19, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Most sci-fi is really fantasy with a veneer of science. Very little would qualify as "hard" sci-fi these days. And V doesn't even come close.

The original series was full of classic sci-fi tropes: aliens in human disguises; aliens who pretend to be friendly, but have sinister motives; ships big enough to flatten major cities by air displacement alone; resistance fighters; aliens want our resources (water seems popular); and plots to use humans for food or genetic "breeding stock."

Basically, the new show picked up most of the plot threads from the original series and ran with 'em. I get the impression the producers of the new show didn't really think about a scientific reason, they were just borrowing tropes from the old series and recasting it with modern life in mind. It's really just one of those suspension of disbelief things. — The Hand That Feeds You:^Bite 20:39, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

u2.com

How many time does the subsciption to this page last?? is that only 2 weeks? Miss Bono (talk) 15:42, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

According to the FAQ on the site's help page, the subscription is for a year. Rojomoke (talk) 18:00, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

Two more questions?! The subscription is for a year but then you have to create a new account or they renew the old one?? Do they cancel my account if I don't log in in a month?? Miss Bono (talk) 11:58, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

I've never known of any site that deletes the account once a subscription runs out. You normally can just renew. And I don't mean to be rude or tell you to go away, but I would think that the best way to get answers to your questions about this specific site would be to email them directly. They are more likely to know their policies than some stranger here. Dismas|^(talk) 12:33, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

. Ok, but I have tried to find an email to contact them but I couldn't. I don't know where to look anymore. Sorry for being annoying. Miss Bono (talk) 13:25, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

There is a Help link in the top right corner of the screen. That page has a contact form and phone number. Dismas|^(talk) 14:03, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for your help!! And sorry for the bothers :( Miss Bono (talk) 14:17, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

April 4

I need to make it clear that you are trying to make WikiProject U2 active again. how can I do that, I already post a messgae on Wikiproject U2's talk but... NOTHING. HELP! Miss Bono (talk) 15:58, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

Miss Bono, this is the Wikipedia Reference Desk, not U2. You need to go to that site. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 20:23, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

Jack, I think the OP is asking about Wikipedia:WikiProject_U2. RudolfRed (talk) 02:04, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

I need to know what movie or book this quote came from and I'm not getting anything putting it in the search...

"After my release I was focused on staying straight. Being a square. Living the dream as they say. I would walk the streets of this strange town looking for something that was simply no there. After some time had passed I would stroll passed certain shops and businesses and for some reason imagine I had a sub-machine gun or assault rifle, Turning the glass to flake and the people into Swiss flesh. As if they deserved it. I didn't know these fucking people but I wanted them to die. Many times I imagine just walking passed a store and drawing down without looking and sending a single impulse to my left index finger to move one quarter of an inch, depress the trigger and wave my arm. Lead fall where it may."

I need to know what movie or book this quote came from if at all possible... I entered this in the search and came up with nothing.

My email address is [email address removed]. If someone could get back with me soon that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

I've removed your email address, as it would invite spam. All answers to questions posted here are also posted here. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 21:26, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

Since it should be "past" rather than "passed", that might have inhibited the search. When I'm trying to find an obscure quote, I usually google only a small but relativel distinctive part of the quote and see what the google magic machine can find. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:46, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

To be clear, in "After some time had passed I would stroll passed certain shops", the first "passed" is fine, but the second one should be "past". -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 01:32, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Yes. Meanwhile, I took my own advice, but likewise I am not finding anything in Google. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:24, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Speaking of quotes, Jack has some classics at User:JackofOz/Quotes and Anti-Quotes. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:53, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Speaking of quotes I come across, here's one I just read a minute ago. It's from a letter by James Boswell, quoted in our article: I got myself quite intoxicated, went to a Bawdy-house and past a whole night in the arms of a Whore. If that is a faithful rendering of his spelling, then either he was a better biographer than a grammarian, or in the intervening years the past tense of "pass" has passed from "past" to "passed". -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 22:20, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Where did you find this quote? This may help others. RunningUranium (talk) 00:27, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

It sounds as if the passage is a translation into English from another language; something about the sentence flow that's not entirely idiomatic. Which would make it harder to find the original source. --Xuxl (talk) 09:40, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

April 5

How to pick out most visually stunning Blu Ray movies?

I have just gotten a Blu Ray player and am very impressed by the visual quality of the Hobbit. I am looking for visually impressive movies (Fifth Element, and Elizabeth come to mind, as well as Full Metal Jacket, and The Skin I Live In, or maybe Johnny Guitar) and have searched Amazon for the highest rated Blu Rays, but I am getting things like Breaking Bad and Justified which are great TV series as dramas, but not exactly cinematic, and To Kill a Mockingbird and It's a Wonderful Life, which are classic films, but hardly ones that show off the potential of Blu Ray. How can I get some good recommendations on Blu Ray films that will show me the quaity of the medium? And, as a follow up, is a remastered or totally work necessary for a high quality Blu Ray, or are analog films on 70mm of the same high-def quality? Thanks. μηδείς (talk) 00:46, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Check out List of Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray releases. Some of the more visually stunning on that list available on Blu-ray include Koyaanisqatsi, The Thin Red Line (1998 film), The Last Emperor, Mystery Train (film), The Darjeeling Limited, The Leopard (1963 film), Brazil (film), and many others. I specifically chose only color films but black and white films also can look great on Blu-ray with a good HDTV. D Monack (talk) 03:24, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

I wouldn't count out TV series just yet. For example, Breaking Bad is filmed on 35 mm, which is how movies that still use film are shot. New Mexico looks fantastic in that mode. Otherwise, any Pixar film looks great. Mingmingla (talk) 03:39, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

A number of Bluray enthusiast sites and forums comment on the visual quality of releases. In the forum sections, recommendations of suitable Blurays are a common question. (Or at least this was the case last time I looked 2-3 years ago.) See e.g. [5] [6] [7] Some 70mm films are Bluray releases noted for their visual quality, e.g. Baraka (film), although these are usually remastered ones. Nil Einne (talk) 04:27, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, those links give me quite a few good recommendations. Unfortunately I have no good weed connection, so Koyaanisqatsi is out as too plotless. And although Breaking Bad lists in my top five TV shows ever, I am not sure how it would be better in high def. But there are some excellent leads here. And I have to say I am surprised AVS rates Rocky Horror so high. μηδείς (talk) 17:56, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Not a surprise if they have a better weed connection than you... --Jayron32 20:37, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

It seems to be a technical rating for the quality of the remastered Blu Ray, not a rating of the plot of the film itself. In any case, I do love the music. Those were fun days doing the stage show at the midnight theater. (Wipe that ass off your chin!) I have always had a thing for Susan Sarandon. Maybe I should get The Hunger? Deneuve et Lakme.... μηδείς (talk) 21:00, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

The best for visual quality that I've seen was Planet Earth (TV series), the David Attenborough documentary. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 08:33, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I ordered that documentary about six hours before you suggested it! μηδείς (talk) 15:13, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I know nothing about Blu Ray, but pretty much any Terry Gilliam film is visually-arresting. 12 Monkeys sticks in my mind. You might also like to trawl through the list of Academy Award winners for cinematography, for films that film cognoscenti have voted for as being visually arresting. --Dweller (talk) 21:24, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Hilarious! I just bought 12 Monkeys two and a half hours before you posted that. Some sort of time travel stuff going on, apparently. μηδείς (talk) 21:40, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Lots of good suggestions here. These might not be your cup of tea but I will mention them anyway. It might be counter-intuitive to think that a black and white film could be improved by bluray but Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and High and Low are worth catching - the updating of the subtitles (older releases had anachronisms and poor translations stretching back to the 1950's) is another plus. Kubrick's Barry Lyndon is visually and musically arresting (though most find the story slow) the previous VHS and DVD releases were flawed but the Bluray comes as close having seen it in the theater as anything I've seen. The Coen brothers films look even better on bluray. For TV the bluray set for Lost comes close to making Hawaii look better than it does in real life. Enjoy! MarnetteD | Talk 21:49, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Yes, it seems interesting that my tastes largely run along what has been suggested, Almodovar, Hitchcok, Lean, the Coens, Kubrick, Gilliam, Kurosawa.... B/W and subtitles don't bother me. Basically, I will eventually buy everything that I don't already own on DVD in Blu Ray. I was bored by Barry Lindo when I saw it 27 years ago--but if I can get it cheap it might be a good choice. The only film I do already own that I might buy right away in Blu Ray is The Fifth Element, although that doesn't get the greatest ratings for transfer quality. I am dissapointed V, Watchmen, and 300 don't get the best ratings either. Oh, and I suppose Crouching Tiger, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers. Red Cliff, which I haven't already seen, is on its way. Thanks for the help. μηδείς (talk) 23:18, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Delroy Lindo meets Barry Lyndon? -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 23:34, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Always assumed he was American. μηδείς (talk) 00:28, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

For the record, the Donnie Darko Blu Ray is about the same or worse quality than a VHS. μηδείς (talk) 00:30, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Slang

I have never seen a Michael Bay-film. So, what do the slang Its like a Michael Bay-film mean? I often see it in youtube comments. --89.249.2.53 (talk) 07:13, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

The first sentence of our Michael Bay article would seem to answer your question.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 07:24, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

I think you mean second sentence. But I would agree. Bay's films are often stereotypical "guy" films with lots of special effects, lots of explosions, lots of guys saving the day, and usually one (and only one) main female character who is incredibly attractive and is in love with the lead male character. Dismas|^(talk) 10:16, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

The movie The Rock starring Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery is probably the model Michael Bay film. The film synopsis is basically "Men with manly job titles driving manly vehicles and doing manly things while stuff explodes", which is kinda what every Michael Bay film is. They tend to be commercially successful and critically hated, I only recommend The Rock as it was one of the few Michael Bay films that critics liked. --Jayron32 12:51, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Manchester United F.C. 2012-13 uniform

I've seen Manchester United wear a uniform that is similar to their home uniform, but the shorts are black. I've only seen them wear these in away games. Are these uni's home, or away, or alternate uniforms? WWEWizard2 (talk) 13:58, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Man U.'s three main kits are shown at the Wikipedia article titled Manchester United F.C., there is no Red/Black combo. The home kit is Red over White, the away kit is White w/red trim over black, and the third kit is an alternating blue/black over shorts. Searching Google Images, I cannot locate any Red/Black kit they have worn. Could you link to the picture you saw of this, or give the approximate date of the game so we can search better? Occasionally you find some Google blogs where someone invents such a combination, or there seems to be some video games that allow you to create such a kit, but I can't find any games where such a kit was actually worn. --Jayron32 17:01, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Football teams often, even when not changing to their full away kit, will change shorts and socks so that no one part of the kit clashes. Whether this is to avoid confusion, to sell more kit or just fashion, I couldn't say. For an example Jayron see [[8]] (Man U Swansea).90.196.111.56 (talk) 19:32, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Well, there you go! --Jayron32 20:35, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Mostly it's to avoid clashes with opposition kit. The "home" and "away" and "third" kit is somewhat arbitrary, but a reasonable rule of thumb is that "at home" (i.e. at Old Trafford), Man Utd will wear red shirts, white shorts, red socks. "Away", they'll wear whatever goes. I remember that Norwich City F.C. had a deal with Proton who own Lotus. Norwich are unlikely to need to change kit because they wear canary yellow and green (not a common kit in the UK), they had the "Proton" branding most weeks, but had a deal to wear to the much more prestigious "Lotus" branded kit "a minimum of seven times" that season. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:15, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Here's another one from the local derby in December 2012, and yet another one against QPR a couple of weeks ago. Alansplodge (talk) 23:25, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Categories of French games

What are the categories in the French Canadian game shows Prive de sens and L'Union de la force? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.53.229.158 (talk) 15:24, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Start here. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:18, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Music rhythm question

Sorry if I don't have the vocabulary to ask this question so that it makes sense.

In the Bruno Mars song "When I Was Your Man", the lyrics go:

I should have bought you flowers

and held your hand

Should have gave you all my hours

when I had the chance

Take you to every party

cause all you wanted to do was dance

Is there a term for when the rhythm changes like it does in that last line? RNealK (talk) 19:40, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

If it was much longer than the others, I'd say it was an Alexandrine, but it's not that much longer. --TammyMoet (talk) 20:22, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

iTunes conversion

Since its founder's death, Apple has gone rapidly downhill. Now I'm trying to distance myself from everything associated with them, but I've purchased a lot of music on the iTunes Store and iTunes songs play on Apple devices alone. Is there a way to convert iTunes songs to a different music player? Theskinnytypist (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 20:30, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Depends on whether the items you bought were DRM'ed. If so, then no, unless you're prepared to break the law. If not, then it's up to you. But you should still pay heed to the agreement you made with iTunes when you bought the product. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:17, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Is there also a copy on your PC, or is it strictly on your iPhone or whatever? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:15, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

I'd contest the "rapidly downhill" comment, but that's a bit off-topic.

Most of Apple's catalog is now free of DRM, so it should play on virtually any music player built in the last 5-10 years or so. AAC is a pretty standard music format now. You may want to go into iTunes and make sure your files aren't listed as "Protected" when you do a right-click and select Get Info on the track. If they are, you'll want to re-download them to get the non-protected ones. I have maybe a dozen protected tracks in my collection, versus several hundred that are not.

Now, you can get the protection off those remaining tracks, but it involves downloading third-party software that I personally wouldn't trust on my system. There are others that are safer, but take a lot more effort to use. — The Hand That Feeds You:^Bite 21:24, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

The easy (and legal) way is to burn your iTunes purchases to a CD and then download them from that CD as an MP3 (not you have to burn it as an audio CD). Obviously if you've got 100s of songs that's not necessarily feasible. You can also apparently play AAC files on other media players (http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/how_to_play_aac_files.cfm) - it doesn't mention anything about DRM though so not sure if that'll cause an issue. ny156uk (talk) 08:07, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

April 6

Business theory of bars and nightclubs

Other than Fridays and Saturdays for obvious reasons, which days of the week are bars and nightclubs busiest and why? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Clover345 (talk • contribs) 02:38, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

It depends when the people who live in the area get paid. When I lived in Yorkshire, Thursday nights were the busiest in bars in towns, and this is because the local mines and industries all paid on Thursdays. --TammyMoet (talk) 11:02, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Thursdays are often busy in American college towns. Students will try to organize their schedule so that they don't have any classes on Fridays, thus giving them a three day weekend every week. This means they can drink on Thursday night without worrying about missing a class on Friday morning... Or even afternoon. Many places call the day "Thirsty Thursday". Dismas|^(talk) 12:16, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Generally, look at when drink prices are highest; you can assume demand is highest on those nights as well. Shadowjams (talk) 17:43, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Song writer, Michael McCloud (Michael Snyder)

There are claims that Michael McCloud was once a member of the band Spirit (US). I am trying to find out if this is true.24.127.151.232 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 17:10, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

He's not listed at Spirit_(band)#Band_members (although that list is not exhaustive). Rojomoke (talk) 17:28, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I've done some looking at allmusic.com at the history of the band Spirit, and I can't find any specific mention of a Michael McCloud or Michael Snyder. I do know that after Jay Ferguson split from Spirit to form Jo Jo Gunne, Randy California kept Spirit going with a string of session musicians and touring musicians, and there was a long list of musicians that drifted through the band at that time. It's possible that he was with the band briefly, perhaps he played a few shows with them such that he doesn't show up on an album credit. --Jayron32 17:41, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Jay Leno

Can you please verify that Jay Leno, of the Tonight Show NBC, played a security guard in the movie Trading Places starring Eddie Murphy please?

Many thanks, Elaine. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Laineyoco (talk • contribs) 23:28, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Probably not. Here is the full cast of the movie, and Jay Leno is not listed. There are several guards and police officers listed, and none of them were played by Jay Leno. --Jayron32 02:46, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Keep in mind, though, that motion picture credits typically only list those actors with speaking roles. The rules are complex, though, and have been worked out over many years of negotiation between the Screen Actors Guild and the movie studios. If Leno only had a small, non-speaking role as an extra or a walk-on, he might not be listed in the official credits. That said, the IMDB listings aren't held to the same standard as the official credits, so might include such information (i.e. the uncredited section at the bottom). The trivia section [9] is also good place to look, but doesn't mention Leno. -- 71.35.122.64 (talk) 21:15, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

You'd think he'd be easy to spot, with that ginormous jaw of his. The fact that I can't find anything that connects him to the film makes me think he wasn't in it. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:03, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

My suspect the him cameo. μηδείς (talk) 02:11, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

April 7

schooner art

I've seen a picture of a three-masted schooner on several episodes of Hawaii Five-0. The picture is nice, but is it actually a painting? If yes, who painted it?142.255.103.121 (talk) 05:22, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Just to confirm - is it the picture in this photo of the set? I can't identify it immediately, I'm afraid, but I just wanted to check which picture it was. Tevildo (talk) 11:48, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

This page identifies it as a painting of The Great Tea Race of 1866 by Montague Dawson. I can't find a link to that specific painting online. There do seem to be a number of other paintings of the same event, by other artists, which resemble this, including one by J Steven Dews and another by Arthur Victor Gregory. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 12:57, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

I should say that page talks about the original series (which I can't remember) not the new one (which I haven't seen). The photo Tevildo linked to is clearly the new one, as it has a flat-screen TV on the wall. But it does look like they've used the same or similar decor - the map behind that TV could be the Mercator one the page I linked to talks about. It's impossible to say, really, with a photo as low resolution as that. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 13:03, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Yes, that's the one. Thank you so much.142.255.103.121 (talk) 13:48, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Here is a better view -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 13:54, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Unless the painting has changed, I have to disagree with that website, and I think they've misidentified the painting. If Dawson did several paintings of the race, then I would assume each of the paintings had more than one ship in them. Going by the set photo linked above (I haven't seen the show), there appears to be only one ship by itself. Montague Dawson apparently has multiple paintings that are somewhat similar, with either one ship on the left or the right, and either leaning to the left or the right. I was not able to find an exact match (the sails in the painting the IP is looking for doesn't have sky showing through them) and I wasn't able to match clouds either. But I'm 100% sure that's not the Ariel and Taeping racing each other. – Kerαunoςcopia^◁_galaxies 17:03, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Ip Man fruit

In the movie Ip Man, what's the fruit eaten by Ip and the other coal workers? It seemed to have a brown exterior and a yellowish interior. --Lazar Taxon (talk) 12:11, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

I believe not a fruit but a Sweet potato Dmcq (talk) 17:55, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

How did I not realize that? --Lazar Taxon (talk) 21:12, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Metal music

Why is the English word "of" occasionally replaced with the word "ov"? For example Ov Fire and the Void. Th4n3r (talk) 23:57, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Perhaps to be eye catching in the manner of Toys R Us? It seems rather pointless to me, but I'm not really the target audience. Alansplodge (talk) 00:02, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Perhaps to avoid the increasingly frequent confusion of 'of' with 'off' [10], which nicely matches the increasingly frequent confusion of 'to' with 'too' [11]. (They say we're making progress. Me, I'm not convinced.) -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 00:30, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

I ov no idea. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:52, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

I think it goes along the same lines as why most black metal artists have mononyms (list of musical artists with one name): it's just one more thing to make them sound (although in the case of "ov", look) dark, evil, cool. It could also be inspired by Latin, where v replaces certain letters to emulate an old-fashioned, gothic appearance in their album/song titles or appellations. – Kerαunoςcopia^◁_galaxies 02:25, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

This is an example of what is known as "TOPY cant". It derives from the writings of Genesis P-Orridge and the modern pagan cult he founded, Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth. As well as "ov", you would see "thee" for "the", "butter" for "but" and a few others I can't remember right now. The idea was to make language strange. --Viennese Waltz 07:43, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Thank you. Th4n3r (talk) 15:09, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Name of movie

I remember watching a sci-fi B-movie in the mid-90's. The plot was somewhat similar to Galaxy Quest in that it involved an actor transported across the galaxy to fight "real" aliens. The only scene that I remember specifically was the actor musing to himself fans of his show would surely notice his absence. The scene then cut back to Earth where a new actor had replaced his role, and the sidekick said something to the effect of "Surely, your enemies won't recognize you with this new face, Captain [Whatever-his-name-was]!" Can anyone tell me what movie this was? 98.103.60.35 (talk) 16:46, 8 April 2013 (UTC)